EJ Obiena Places Sixth In Lausanne As Duplantis Sets A Meet Record

EJ Obiena cleared 5.81 meters to finish sixth in the men’s pole vault at the Wanda Diamond League meet in Lausanne on Thursday, tying three other vaulters at that height and coming out ahead on countback.

Mondo Duplantis won the competition outright, clearing 6.21 meters for a meet record. Emmanouil Karalis took second. Kurtis Marschall, Sondre Guttormsen, and Christopher Nilsen split third place at 5.91 meters. Obiena tied for sixth with Zachery Bradford and Sam Kendricks, all three clearing 5.81 meters.

The win capped a difficult stretch for Duplantis. He lost for the first time in three years at the Stockholm Diamond League in June, finishing second to Marschall, then withdrew from the London meet in July with a thigh injury after clearing 5.95 meters. After Lausanne, he told World Athletics, “I’m tired! But I feel really good, I feel really happy.”

Lausanne marked the 12th leg of the 2026 Wanda Diamond League season, which opened in Shanghai in May and closes with the two day final in Brussels on September 4 and 5.

A sixth place finish against a field this deep does not close the season. It sets up the next jump.